Nike ranked most trustworthy fashion brand by Gen Z and millennials

Ybrands has released a new study ranking the most trustworthy brands according to consumers aged 13-36. While Dove took the top spot across all product categories, Nike reigned supreme among fashion brands.

Nike was considered the coolest and most trustworthy fashion brand among survey respondents - Instagram @nikewomenIn the cross-category rankings, Nike came in second place for trustworthiness ahead of Hershey's, Amazon and Oreo. M&M's, Target, Google, Netflix and Adidas rounded out the top ten.

“Young people ascribe trustworthiness to a brand for a variety of subjective reasons,” Bobby Calise, Ypulse’s vice president of Ybrands, told Marketing Daily. “Dove, for example, has built its reputation around its ‘Real Beauty’ campaigns, which comes through in its trustworthy ranking."

Another part of the survey focused specifically on fashion brands, again seeking to ascertain which companies in this category were considered the most trustworthy. Here, Nike took the top spot, and was also considered the "coolest" fashion brand among survey respondents.

“Nike is kind of like the Beatles or the Beyonce brands in that they've achieved both critical and commercial success, especially when it comes to the youth market,” Calise explained.

Nike-owned Jordan also ranked second among the coolest fashion brands but fell to eighth in terms of trustworthiness or authenticity.

Levi’s, on the other hand, was voted the second-most authentic brand in the survey, a fact that Calise highlighted as an impressive feat after 165 years in business, pointing out that “Levi’s is still perceived among teens, 20- and 30-somethings as true to itself. Even Nike could learn something from Levi's when it comes to authenticity.”

Adidas, Vans and Under Armour ranked third through fifth, respectively, on both the “coolest” and authenticity lists.

The top ten coolest brands were rounded out by Nike-owned Converse, The North Face, Supreme, Pink and Timberland, while the last four top-ten places were taken by The North Face, Target, Converse and Fruit of the Loom in the authenticity rankings.

The study further broke down its results by age, separating respondents into consumers aged 13-17, 18-24, and 25-36. “It’s worth noting awareness of Supreme for 18-24 is 69%, which is 30 to 40 points higher than 13-17 and 25-36,” Calise pointed out. Calvin Klein also reached the top 10 with 18-24 year olds but remained outside the top 20 among Gen Z and older millennials.

Ybrands surveyed a total of 80,000 consumers aged 13 to 36 for its study. Categories surveyed included fashion/apparel, health and beauty.